Foreword:

The foldable screen market feels a bit crowded this September. Huawei and Xiaomi unveiled their new devices, Apple entered the scene with its first foldable iPhone, and Samsung's latest offering just completed its initial sales verification.

After the exhaustion of innovation in candy-bar smartphones, with chips from Qualcomm, screens from Samsung and BOE, and imaging from Sony, the experiential differences between flagship devices are becoming increasingly difficult to articulate.

The hinge stands out as an exception: it is the sole mechanical system on the entire device still undergoing rapid evolution. Users can immediately feel the difference—whether it's a millimeter thinner, ten grams lighter, or a fraction less noticeable crease.

Author | Fang Wensan

Image Source | Internet

The Battle of Screens Has Ended; the War of Hinges Begins

As foldable screens enter their seventh year, flexible OLED panels and UTG ultra-thin glass have transitioned from scarcity to mass production, making it difficult to create decisive differences in the screen segment.

The crease after unfolding, the thickness when closed, and the long-term reliability of repeated opening and closing all converge on the mechanical structure.

The hinge of a large foldable device consists of hundreds of components, tasked with achieving synchronous transmission, hovering damping, and screen support within a mere 4mm of unfolded thickness.

While SoCs and screens can be outsourced, the feel and lifespan of hinges must be meticulously refined down to the micrometer.

As one of the few components in smartphones where mechanical engineering still dictates the experience, this is why it has become a battleground.

Counterpoint Research estimates that by the end of 2026, cumulative global shipments of foldable smartphones will exceed 100 million units. However, foldables currently account for only about 2% of the overall smartphone market, with global foldable shipments expected to grow by 37% year-on-year in 2027.

After the Appearance (appearance), chip performance, and imaging systems of candy-bar flagships gradually enter an era of incremental innovation, the foldable form factor has become one of the few hardware directions still capable of creating visually perceptible differences.

Counterpoint notes that foldable devices currently command a price level roughly three times that of traditional candy-bar smartphones. For smartphone manufacturers, this represents a showcase with limited sales volume but high strategic value.

Precisely because of this, hinges have gradually become the "spatial stewards" of foldable flagships in this round of competition.

The Value of Hinges: Materials, Processes, and Millimeter Economics

Hinges have become a battleground because they are expensive and difficult.

Teardown calculations by AJ Securities reveal that the cost increments of foldable screens compared to candy-bar devices concentrate in three areas: display modules increase by approximately 194%, mechanical and electromechanical components (including hinges) rise by about 177%, and memory increases by roughly 38.6%.

While the value of screens is widely recognized, the "silent 177%" represented by hinges constitutes the hidden river of profit within the supply chain.

The lightweight manufacturing of foldable screen hinges primarily relies on multiple precision process routes. MIM (Metal Injection Molding) stands as a crucial direction, enabling large-scale manufacturing of complex micro-metal structures through powder metallurgy combined with precision molds. Some companies also continuously breakthrough high-precision mold and titanium alloy molding technologies, providing a manufacturing foundation for hinge lightweighting.

Another route involves metal 3D printing. OPPO Find N5 employs titanium alloy 3D printing technology to manufacture its Celestial Hinge wing plates, with the thinnest point measuring merely about 0.15mm. Compared to traditional machining methods, additive manufacturing enables more complex lightweight structural designs while maintaining strength despite reduced weight and thickness.

Honor continuously optimizes hinge structural design through its Luban Architecture, combining material innovation and precision manufacturing processes to enhance the reliability and durability of foldable screens. Some products have undergone hinge testing verified for hundreds of thousands of folds.

Hinges not only support the flexible screen in its unfolded state but also precisely control the screen's bending trajectory and internal space changes during folding, maintaining a reasonable curvature to reduce mechanical stress in the folded area and improve long-term reliability.

Samsung states that foldable device hinges must simultaneously balance force distribution, structural strength, durability, internal space, and weight, with designs incapable of being achieved through simple proportional scaling.

The Galaxy Z Fold5 weighs 253 grams, while this year's Galaxy Z Fold8 has achieved 201 grams. To continue reducing weight, its engineering team re-examined approximately 270 components and over 180 types of auxiliary materials.

The hinge sits precisely at the most densely packed intersection of all contradictions in foldable devices. It occupies valuable cross-body space while directly participating in screen stress and structural rigidity, all while enduring repeated mechanical motion.

Evaluating hinges involves strong systemicity: the opening and closing damping must feel comfortable, synchronization between both sides must be excellent, the unfolded state must be sufficiently flat, while the folded state must provide an appropriate screen curvature. It cannot be too thick or heavy yet must withstand extensive repeated opening and closing.

This gives foldable device hinges a unique commercial attribute: highly customized designs, highly precise manufacturing, lengthy verification cycles, yet requiring stability akin to ordinary consumer electronic components once mass-produced.

Different brands use various terms, but engineering objectives increasingly converge: reducing space, lowering weight, controlling screen stress, while maintaining reliability. As devices become thinner overall, the engineering tasks hinges must undertake only increase.

Behind the $1.2 Billion Market, Two Routes Emerge in the Supply Chain

TrendForce projects that the global market size for foldable smartphone hinges will reach approximately $1.2 billion by 2025, with hinges accounting for about 5% to 8% of the BOM cost of a single foldable device.

Since a single hinge involves multiple materials and processes such as MIM, CNC, stamping, assembly, and amorphous alloys, industry competition is not merely a contest between individual companies but rather forms a layered technological chain spanning materials, precision components, and complete modules.

From the perspective of complete hinge and module capabilities, South Korea's KH Vatec represents a notable enterprise, with technical accumulation covering precision metal structural components, casting, and assembly modules.

In 2025, the company achieved approximately $316 million in revenue, a 36.6% year-on-year increase, with assembly module revenue reaching about $189 million, accounting for a significant proportion.

Domestic companies are accelerating breakthroughs in key materials and precision structural components.

Dongmu shares entered the foldable screen hinge market leveraging MIM technology, gradually extending from single MIM components to "MIM components + modules."

Its 2026 interim report revealed that its MIM technology platform achieved $130.7 million in principal business revenue in the first half of the year, an 8.25% year-on-year increase. Driven by growth in foldable device orders, principal business revenue related to foldable assemblies surged by 219.3% year-on-year.

Jingyan Technology's path leans more toward synergistic "MIM + transmission components," having already achieved mass production of multiple foldable smartphone hinge products.

In 2025, the company reported approximately $291 million in revenue, a 34.79% year-on-year increase. MIM components and assembly revenue reached $164.3 million, while transmission, heat dissipation components, and other business revenue totaled about $75 million.

Another technological route comes from Yi'an Technology, which has long focused on amorphous alloys, commonly known in the market as liquid metals.

Leveraging the material's high strength, high elasticity, and complex precision molding capabilities, the company entered the foldable screen hinge structural component market and has achieved bulk shipments of related products. In 2025, the company's overall revenue reached $172.6 million, a 4.47% year-on-year increase.

This indicates that the threshold for hinge supply chains is expanding horizontally. While individual MIM, CNC, or stamping capabilities remain important, in high-end projects, material R&D, module assembly, and 3D printing are increasingly likely to be evaluated as integrated packages.

The hinge industry chain is shifting from a "component processing chain" to a "mechanism engineering chain," which may represent one of the most significant changes in the coming years.

The issue of creases is moving beyond mere reliance on mechanical structural optimization. Mechanical solutions such as waterdrop hinges, multi-link mechanisms, and floating supports have already significantly improved creases.

However, further reducing creases requires simultaneous control over stress distribution in UTG ultra-thin glass, OCA optical adhesive, support plates, and the entire display stack structure.

Conclusion: Short-Term Focus on Material Stories, Long-Term on Capability Spillover

Marketing narratives around "crease-free" designs will continue to ferment alongside the pre-sale and stock shortages of the iPhone Duo, with related A-share stocks already experiencing anticipatory volatility.

IDC projects that global foldable screen shipment growth will reach approximately 30% in 2026, while TrendForce believes the proportion of foldables in the smartphone market will rise from 1.6% in 2025 to over 3% by 2027.

More significant than shipment figures is the long-term capability spillover. The micrometer-level precision manufacturing honed for foldable screens is flowing into triple-fold devices, rollable screens, foldable tablets and notebooks, and even robotic joints—new hardware categories.

By then, competition in foldable screens will shift back to software and ecosystems, with AI multitasking on foldable devices becoming the story of the second half.

Partial reference materials: Cailian Press: "Key Components of Foldable Smartphones! Hinge-Benefiting Listed Companies Sorted," East Money: "Hinges, UTG, Flexible OLED: Dissecting the High-Value Industrial Chain of Foldable Screens," Hexun: "Flexible Materials and Precision Hinges Heat Up, Upstream Supply Chains Enter Pre-Volume Ramp-Up Phase."